“An Australian teenager died on her 18th birthday after drinking [finally including] a 95% alcohol strength spirit.“
“According to Nicole’s family, the teen wasn’t a big drinker…” [Nicole was new to drinking only a few months prior – by a degrading influence of her boyfriend’s drinking mates.]
“Nicole Bicknell collapsed after having several shots of the Polish spirit Spirytus Rektyfikowany.” [She was found dead the day after her 1 Nov. 2014 birthday party.]
“I cannot see why alcohol so strong is sold in liquor stores,” Nicole’s grandfather Kevin McLean [said]…” “No one needs to buy alcohol that strong. It should be taken off the shelves so this doesn’t happen to any other family.” “We want it banned Australia-wide and we would like to see it an offence to sell it.”
“The Australian Medical Association actually called for the spirit to be banned two years ago. Nicole’s mother Belinda Bicknell said she’s furious that the drink hadn’t already been taken off shelves.“
(BBC News, 17 Nov. 2014, “Australian teen dies after drinking 95% strength spirit“)
“The Deputy State Coroner was satisfied the deceased died as a direct result of her voluntary alcohol consumption and the toxic effects of alcohol upon her ability to breathe effectively…”
Dr. David Joyce stated: “The cause of death is a sum of all the alcohol that was taken during the night. There may have been a disproportionate contribution from that final drink, but death can’t be laid at the feet of just that final drink. It was the sum of all the alcohol taken.”
(Deputy State Coroner Evelyn Felicia Vicker, 18 Aug. 2017, Inquest into the death of Nicole Emily BICKNELL, Coroner’s Court of Western Australia)
Update: 2024 is ten years after Nicole’s tragic death – and this spirit and similar are still on sale in Australia online. Foolish! Of course the die-hard libertine politicians never want to permit the alcohol industry to be legally restricted in the slightest way. The dead victim’s family deserves our sympathies. But the alcohol industry – and the politicians they control – deserve none of our sympathies. None!